Zebralight's Customer Base

I own a collection of ZL's and over the past several years I have watched their product line expand into a rather extensive set of options... Assuming that this means they are selling well, it makes me wonder who is the customer base that is supporting them? Is it outdoor/adventure enthusiasts (hiking, spelunking, etc), some sort of military, police, medical, or government institution? Or do they sell through some sort of brick & mortar retail chain in certain countries?

I ask because it seems like it would be difficult for them to fund all of their different designs and options without some sort of large entity supporting it with frequent high-quantity orders... especially considering that no one in my universe of family/friends/co-workers has ever heard of them and I have never seen them advertised in a magazine or store...

Or is it just CPF readers and other knowledgeable consumers that are able to seek them out and purchase enough product?

I always assumed it was the internet shoppers just searching Google keeping them going. Word spreads fast. Other than their main site, you see them sold thru shops online and even Amazon. Then you have sites like outdoorgearlab reviewing them, plus all the forums (CPF, BLF, EDC, knives, caving, mountain biking, etc) That really gets the word out.

I would like to think they would sell well in retail stores, but I think most consumers would pass after seeing the price. And frustration would probably be a factor with a majority of consumers AFTER they purchase it because of the UI. I think it's perfect, but many people would probably find it too complicated since they wouldn't spend 5 minutes to actually learn it. Without reading the manual they would open it up, click on to high...then write a review "this thing sucks! only last 50 minutes!!"

I also assume that internet word-of-mouth has been huge for ZL... but it still seems like it would be difficult to support all of their models without something propping the sales... especially when you consider all of the variations and really specific emitter models...

I'm sure a lot of outdoors enthusiasts are aware of Zebralight by now. I joined a hunting/outdoors forum for some gear advice like packs, sleeping bags and was surprised that a lot of hunters were raving about Zebralight as being their favorite headlamp. These people spend $1200 on a pack so buying a $90 quality headlamp is not just for CPF flashoholics.

I've never seen a ZL in a store and hadn't even heard of them till 7 or 8 months ago when I was browsing a flashlight thread on a forum I frequent and noticed these alien looking, green body lights with the LED coming out at a right angle and someone pointed them out as Zebralight. I had a gift card I wanted to spend on a couple new EDC lights and started searching for "best AA lights" or something like that. One of the well-known EDC blogs had listed the SC52 as the king of AA lights at the time and I started researching it more. I was blown away by my SC52w, and now I'm a big ZL fan and have recommended them to others. ZL was also a catalyst leading to the flashaholism I have now. I appreciate that they try to appeal to the enthusiast.

Yeah... I started with the classic ZL H501w since neutral/warm temps were even harder to find back then, especially in a headlamp... I now have seven Zebra's and I'm not sure I even have two of any other brand...

I EDC my H52Fw, my H502c is my nightstand light, my SC52w comes with me sometimes, my SC62w gets used around the house/yard, my SC51w is on my wife's nightstand, and I still use my H51Fw and H501w as dedicated headlamps.

If they ever go retail, they better go back to this:



Instead of this:

That old retail box looks like it should contain medicine...

holygeez03 said:

That old retail box looks like it should contain medicine...

Click to expand...

LOL it does!!!